California narrowly avoids blackouts in wake of storm

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California was pushed to the brink of rolling blackouts after the state's biggest storm in three years cut electricity generation at a key nuclear plant.

The storm Thursday came as other electric generating stations shut down for maintenance, which coupled with the crippled nuclear plant cut the state's power output by one-third. Regulators declared a Stage 3 alert as reserves dropped below 1.5 percent.

Officials from the state's grid manager, the California Independent System Operator, credited an influx of power from Oregon and Washington state with fending off outages. Gov. Gray Davis planned to meet Friday with the governors of the two states to discuss the energy crisis.

Electricity shortages linked to California's botched deregulation of the power industry have produced soaring prices and sporadic threats of blackouts in California since last June.

''We can expect these alerts daily,'' said Jim Detmers, the ISO's general manager.

The governor says ISO managers aren't doing enough to find energy. His spokesman, Steve Maviglio, said the power generators on the ISO board benefit from the higher wholesale electricity prices brought on by the power alerts. ''They have an inherent conflict of interest,'' Maviglio said.

Detmers said they were ''not crying wolf'' in calling the alerts. He also noted that the board's members include state officials, along with people in the power industry. A state Assembly committee, urged by the Davis administration, has approved a bill to replace the ISO board with a three-member panel appointed by the governor.